Court: a Making a Murderera defendanta s confession stands

A federal appeals court in Chicago narrowly overturned a ruling Friday that could have freed a Wisconsin inmate featured in the "Making a Murderer" series from prison, though one dissenting judge called the case "a profound miscarriage of justice." The full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed Brendan Dassey 's claims that investigators tricked him into confessing that he took part in raping and killing photographer Teresa Halbach in 2005.

Ryan Anderson: Christian Baker Need Not Have Ended Up at Supreme Court

On Dec. 5, the Supreme Court heard the case of Jack Phillips, the Christian baker who can't in good conscience design and create wedding cakes that celebrate same-sex marriages. The justices now will decide whether states, consistent with the First Amendment, can force citizens to express support for same-sex marriage through their artistic products.

Arkansas resumes issuing birth certificates after brief halt

Arkansas' governor ordered health officials on Friday to treat married lesbian and heterosexual couples the same when listing the parents on a birth certificate, in an effort to comply with a June U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the state's birth certificate law was discriminatory. Gov. Asa Hutchinson's directive came hours after a judge blocked the state from issuing any birth certificates until it complied with the June ruling.

State Dept says Trump travel ban fully implemented

Washington Solicitor General Noah Purcell, center, speaks during a protest rally, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017, outside a federal courthouse in Seattle. The U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing President Donald Trump's third travel ban to take effect has intensified the attention on a legal showdown Wednesday before three judges in Seattle who have been cool to the policy as they hear arguments in Hawaii's challenge to the ban, which restricts travel to the United States by residents of six mostly Muslim countries and has been reviled by critics as discriminatory.

The stupidest patents of 2017

The year 2017 was a critical one for patents - limited legal monopolies granted to inventors to control the market for their innovations. Notably, the U.S. Supreme Court decided two cases this year that continued a trend of reining in so-called patent trolls , companies that buy up wildly overbroad patents and then sue anyone and everyone for infringement, looking for easy settlements.

Trump travel ban to be heard by federal appeals court

Thirteen judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will be asked to decide if the ban violates the constitution by discriminating against Muslims, as opponents say, or is necessary to protect national security, as the Trump administration says. The hearing scheduled Friday comes four days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can fully enforce the ban even as the separate challenges continue before the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th Circuit and the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit appeals courts.

The SalonTV Rewind: Michael Flynn, the “gay wedding cake” case and more from the week

Lying to the FBI has consequences : What does a 21-year veteran of the FBI make of General Michael Flynn pleading guilty to the bureau? Jeff Ringel, director of the Soufan Group and a former FBI supervisor, joined "Salon Talks" to discuss what the implications are for Flynn. Watch it here .

Delaware requires political party balance on state courts; First…

The Delaware Constitution provides for judges appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the state senate, but with limitations aimed at political party balance: First, three of the five Justices of the Supreme Court in office at the same time, shall be of one major political party, and two of said Justices shall be of the other major political party.

Pantone picks deep purple ‘Ultra Violet’ as color of year

A North Carolina county is working on the lengthy process of fixing its computer systems after declining to pay off a hacker who used ransomware to freeze dozens of local government servers. A North Carolina county is working on the lengthy process of fixing its computer systems after declining to pay off a hacker who used ransomware to freeze dozens of local government servers.

Latest: Keillor attorney: MPR must ‘set the record straight’

30, 2014 file photo, Garrison Keillor talks with Daily Circuit host Tom Weber in the studios at Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul, Minn. The president of Minnesota Public Rad... The same vicious winds that were making three Southern California wildfires so destructive were also making the firefight itself more difficult by keeping water-dropping planes and helicopters grounded.

Mideast braces for fallout from Trump’s move on Jerusalem

U.S. officials say President Donald Trump will recognize Jerusal... . Hamas supporters stage a protest against the possible U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, in Jebaliya Refugee Camp, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017.

Government wants delay of transgender military enlistment

An alternate juror who sat through a murder trial in a case that sparked a fierce national debate on immigration says he agreed with the jury's decision to acquit a Mexican man of murder in the shooting death of a... An alternate juror who sat through a murder trial in a case that sparked a fierce national debate on immigration says he agreed with the jury's decision to acquit a Mexican man of murder in the shooting death of a San Francisco woman two years ago. A hacker's attack has slowed county government services to a crawl Wednesday in North Carolina's most populous metro area.

Project Veritas founder honored by conservative group

James O'Keefe, the right-wing activist whose Project Veritas organization recently attempted to plant a false story in The Washington Post, was honored Wednesday night by a conservative religious organization. The award was presented by Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in a ceremony at Washington's Trump International hotel.

Boone knows he’s a rookie who has to prove himself to Yanks

An alternate juror who sat through a murder trial in a case that sparked a fierce national debate on immigration says he agreed with the jury's decision to acquit a Mexican man of murder in the shooting death of a... An alternate juror who sat through a murder trial in a case that sparked a fierce national debate on immigration says he agreed with the jury's decision to acquit a Mexican man of murder in the shooting death of a San Francisco woman two years ago. A hacker's attack has slowed county government services to a crawl Wednesday in North Carolina's most populous metro area.

Congress seems on track to avert weekend government shutdown

With shirts saying "fight poverty not the poor," people with the "Poor People's Campaign" gesture the group to remain quiet as the group leaves the Capitol Rotunda after praying in an act of civil disobedience in protest of... . Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., meets with reporters after House Republicans held a closed-door strategy session as the deadline looms to pass a spending bill to fund the government by week's end, on Capitol Hill... Los Angeles will become the nation's largest city with recreational pot after the City Council votes to license sales next year.

Kim Davis denied him a marriage license. Now he wants her job

David Ermold, one of the men denied a same-sex marriage license by Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis in 2015, hopes to challenge her for the clerk's seat next year, he announced Wednesday. Davis set off an international furor when she denied a marriage license to Ermold and his partner, David Moore, despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the right for same-sex couples to marry.